Methods have been disclosed in which individual test strips are supplied from an exchangeable drum magazine for analytical purposes. Consumption of the individual test strips is recorded by the device by assigning a counter reading to a magazine identifier and is not written back onto the magazine thus also simplifying the optional use of partially used magazines. See, for example, a system such as is disclosed in EP-A 1 770 395.
In order to further increase the system integration, in other disclosures it has been proposed to use a spooled test tape with analytical test fields that are spaced apart as test means in a hand-held device instead of individual strips. Marker areas which allow an exact positioning of the test fields are provided in this case to register the distance travelled during tape transport. With such concepts it is particularly challenging to minimize the overall size and the number of required operating steps. See, for example, a system such as is disclosed in EP-A 1 739 432.
The object of the invention is to further develop the methods and products known in the prior art and to increase the user-friendliness and reliability of the methods using simple means also with regard to an optimized utilization of the test means.